I've been mainly trading the financials stocks. The 5 & 15-min charts have been helpful to reduce some of the "noise" as the Vix has now come down below 40. The low-priced issues like BAC/C/FAS have also been great for leverage using options. I've found some nice narrow-range breakouts that have allowed me to position-size 2-5x my normal lot size. Here are a couple trades I took:
C - The daily has been consolidating nicely. The Apr 3 Calls I picked up on Friday cost $0.25...dirt cheap. I took some off the table near the close.
FSLR - This carved out a nice narrow range. I initially entered @ 143.00, got stopped out and re-entered @ 143.50. I also bought the Apr 150 Calls as FSLR popped to $157 last time it broke out. I managed $4 on the Apr 120 Calls and $0.75 on the Apr 150 Calls.
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4 comments:
I follow your blog, It´s great, and I like your way of trading.
¿Could you explain how do you do your scans to fin the stocks?
Thks from Spain.
Hey NickHO! Hope to see more from you on options strategies.. You seem to use them very well. Cheers!
-sloth
Hey Antonio,
Thanks for stopping by...all the way from Spain! I have a standing watchlist of momentum stocks that have been built over time. These are high-flyers and tend to move pretty well. This is key because I look for dollar-for-dollar movement when trading deep-in-the-money options. Stocks with less than $1 daily range will force me to scalp which is impossible with options. I'll add/delete stocks from the watchlist, depending on recent trends. Financials have been volatile lately so make up about 25% of the current watchlist. On a daily basis, I'll check out what pops up on briefing.com for news-driven news. Here are a few stocks on the current watchlist:
Tech - AAPL, AMZN, BIDU, GOOG
Financials - BAC, C, CME, FNM, GS, ICE, JPM, MA, V
Basic Materials/Ags - FSLR, MOS, NOV, OIH, POT
ETFs - FAS, FAZ, SRS, SKF
Others - ISRG (recent mover and added back...thanks Salsa), VIX, SPY
I've learned that it helps to keep a stable, bread-and-butter watchlist with stocks that you're familiar with. Overtime, you'll start to see each stock's "personality" and be able to judge their movements better.
Sloth, long-time no hear! :) I'll do my best to keep the posts coming. -One-armed Trader
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